Interesting Baseball News Items That Do Not Warrant Their Own Thread

[AustinTXHorn]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...e.2b8a628.html

Heh. Hope they're wearing ear muffs during the game, because they're going to hear about it.

[jonnyc39]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...e.2b8a628.html

I'm sorry but pink bats and baseball don't mix.

[SoCal Pinstriper]

Reliever Casey Daigle is expected to be excused from tonight's game against the Cubs to be with his wife, softball star Jennie Finch, who is set to give birth to the couple's first child today in Tucson.

The Daigles are expecting a boy, whom they already have named "Ace." Finch was to be induced into labor late Wednesday. Nonetheless, Daigle has been a nervous wreck for the past few weeks.

"Oh, very much so, more than I've ever been in my baseball career," he said. "You don't get a manual on how to be a father. It's all trial and error, and I'm getting really nervous right now just talking about it."

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepu...dbnb05040.html

[TheMick@ND]

I was just watching Rome is Burning and they were talking about something Cory Lidle said about Bonds, but didn't say what he said, anyone know what they're talking about?

[MaineSoxFan]

I was just watching Rome is Burning and they were talking about something Cory Lidle said about Bonds, but didn't say what he said, anyone know what they're talking about?

Yeah, he said something to the effect that Bonds' single season home run record should be erased and that Lidle doesn't feel bad for what he is going through.

[TheMick@ND]

Thanks for the info MaineSoxFan

[MaineSoxFan]

Thanks for the info MaineSoxFan

No problem, here's the article: http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/sports/14496061.htm

[SoCal Pinstriper]

Mark Prior lost off the field Thursday when a Will County judge ruled the Cubs pitcher owes nearly $31,000 to a Naperville store that paid him to sign autographs for fans.

But Judge Herman Haase handed Prior at least a public relations victory by rejecting allegations in a lawsuit that Prior used profanity and acted rudely toward hundreds of fans who turned out for the 2004 autograph session at Just Ducky Too, a Naperville art and home furnishing business.

"These days, we see lots of examples of really atrocious behavior by sports figures. This was not one of those situations. The court didn't hear any substantial evidence that Mr. Prior behaved badly," Haase said during his lengthy ruling.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/cubs/...s-prior05.html

[Jersey Yankee]

I'm not sure if it's thread-worthy or not, but from the Houston Chronicle:

Bonds HR Pursuit Concerns Hall of Famers

IRVING, Texas — Harmon Killebrew knows records are made to be broken. That's OK with the former AL MVP who hit 573 home runs _ as long as those records aren't tainted.

With Barry Bonds close to catching Babe Ruth for second place on the career home run list behind Hank Aaron, while also facing lingering questions about steroids, Killebrew isn't sure what to think.

"If they're doing something that is an illegal situation, that's different," Killebrew said Friday. "That's why I say there's a cloud over baseball right now. You hate to point any fingers at anybody because you don't really know for sure."

A federal grand jury in San Francisco is investigating whether Bonds lied under oath when he said he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.

"You look at some of his pictures in 1998, and you look at him now, it doesn't look like the same ballplayer," Hall of Fame reliever Rollie Fingers said. "The court is still out on whether he did it or whether he didn't do it, but I'm sure we'll find out in the end what the real story is."

[SoCal Pinstriper]

SLEEPWALKING: After their night game against the Yankees in St. Petersburg, plus an airplane delay at the airport, the Rays didn't arrive at their team hotel until just before 5 a.m. Pacific time.

"It reminds me of being in the playoffs," Maddon said. "We're getting battle tested for the playoffs."

The Rays left the Trop following their 10-5 loss to New York, but their team charter was overweight, so they had to unload some equipment before taking off. They didn't reach the airport in San Francisco until just after 4 a.m.

http://www.tbo.com/sports/rays/MGBWEWSEVME.html

[SoCal Pinstriper]

The Dodgers have their eye on a pair of Twin outfielders, Torii Hunter and Shannon Stewart, who are in the final seasons of their contracts and probably will be dealt as the suddenly pitching-thin Twins plummet in the American League Central.

Scouts say both have lost ground in the outfield, though their range might improve, given a fresh start in a close division race. That's assuming, of course, the Dodgers have such a thing to offer.

The Dodgers also are looking at Pirate first baseman-outfielder Craig Wilson.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-...adlines-sports

[SoCal Pinstriper]

I've heard the expression, a bag of balls, but.....

The Fullerton Flyers, an independent minor league baseball team that begins play next month, recently traded for a pitcher from a team in Schaumburg, Ill., whose season is already underway.

The Flyers acquired the pitcher by sending the Schaumburg team, also known as the Flyers, 60 cases of Budweiser. That's because the pitcher is Nigel Thatch, who is 0-3 in seven starts but is also the actor who played cocky athlete Leon in Budweiser commercials.
"This trade was a bargain for us," Fullerton General Manager Ed Hart said. "We were prepared to throw in a Clydesdale."

Rich Ehrenrich, owner of the Schaumburg team, told the Chicago Tribune, "Nigel really gave us a unique presence in the sports marketplace. In the true spirit of 'Leon Time,' we'll have a cold one courtesy of Fullerton and thank Nigel for his time here."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/custom...rts-morning_br

[MaineSoxFan]

Three bench clearing incidents in one minor league game before it was called:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...x.html?cnn=yes

[Jersey Yankee]

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepu...dbnb05040.html

You're trying to kill me, aren't you? Jennie!!!

Anywho ... if you thought that Barry Bonds was bad ...

The worst of times? Not Bonds' assault on history

As Barry Bonds stands poised to surpass Babe Ruth and take dead aim at Hank Aaron, thousands of (self-appointed) guardians of the game are seething. "What could be worse than baseball's most beloved record being compromised by an alleged steroid abuser?" we mutter in righteous anger.

The answer, fellow seamheads, is "plenty." Baseball history is littered with scandals that make Barry's ugly assault on 714 and 755 look tame. Make no mistake: It will be dismaying to see Bonds lord his arrogance -- not to mention his puffed-out pectorals -- over us as he points skyward after No. 715.

But it's not even close to the low point of the pastime's history. As Babe Ruth's biographer, the inimitable Robert Creamer, is fond of pointing out, "Baseball must be a marvelous game to survive the awful things that people have done to it."

Topping the awful things, of course, is the infamous Black Sox fix of the 1919 World Series. Hugh Fullerton, the reporter who is credited with uncovering the Black Sox scandal, believed that 1919 was just one of many early postseasons tainted by corruption. Cheating -- or as the players preferred to call it, "arranging games" -- was more widespread in the first three decades of the 20th century than even serious students of baseball lore suspect. And it didn't end with the "eight men out": Skullduggery continued to haunt the game well after the eight Black Sox players were banished in the early '20s.

[SoCal Pinstriper]

Before Monday's game, Helton sat in the clubhouse checking out his hits on a video iPod. Not just from his recent at-bats, but all of his hits dating to 1998. He has organized his files so that he can call up the pitchers of each team and watch how he has swung the bat against them. He sees it all on a tiny screen that fits in the palm of his hand. Helton got the iPod this year. It has become his constant companion.

"I can watch it on the plane, the bus, wherever," he said. "It's pretty amazing, isn't it? That little thing holds that much information."

Rockies video coach Mike Hamilton stores all of the team's at-bats on the team computer, and then Helton downloads the videos to his iPod, just as he would download music.

http://www.denverpost.com/rockies/ci_3800192

[Bob Saccomano]

http://www.denverpost.com/rockies/ci_3800192

Team iPods with the Yankee logo are in store.

[SoCal Pinstriper]

Oliver Perez (1-5, 7.71) is listed as the Pirates' probable starter for the game tomorrow.

But beyond that?

"I don't feel we're to that point yet," manager Jim Tracy said. "But, at some point, you have to see results. You can't get pitched out of the game early. When the hitters are going through what they're going through, and they look up and they're trying to dig themselves out of a five- or six-run hole ... You want to see your starting pitcher keep you around [in the game]. That's what I want to see."

It's conceivable then that if Perez has another poor start tomorrow his next start will be for Class AAA Indianapolis.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06130/688819-63.stm

[SoCal Pinstriper]

STARTLING STAT: The Rockies' 4.08 team ERA heading into Tuesday was the lowest mark the club has had at any point, in any season, after the first 10 games of a season.

http://www.denverpost.com/rockies/ci_3803494

[SoCal Pinstriper]

Ben Sheets sidelined with mystery injury.

Melvin said it was impossible to say at this time how long Sheets might be sidelined.

"That's the mystery to this," Melvin said. "He'll get looked at (by a doctor) when he gets back (to Milwaukee).

"The feeling is that it's nothing serious. It's soreness as much as anything that prevents him from getting the work in needed to pitch.

"The other part that came into this situation was that if he went out there on Saturday and pitched an inning or two and felt bad and had to shut it down, then you've got to DL him and now it's 15 more days."

Sheets missed the last five weeks of the 2005 season after tearing a muscle behind his pitching shoulder. He experienced a setback during an exhibition outing in spring training and started this season on the disabled list.

After making a couple of starts in the minors, Sheets was activated on April 16. He made progress over three starts before getting hammered last time out against Houston, surrendering nine hits and seven runs in 2 1/3 innings while experiencing a significant loss in velocity and poor command of his pitches.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=422534

[bnorris85]

MLB oks pink bats

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2439502

[backstop20]

MLB oks pink bats

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2439502

Jeter, Posada and Williams will be using them.

[SoCal Pinstriper]

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Bruce Jenkins, who wrote last year that manager Dusty Baker would walk away from the Cubs when his four-year contract expired this year, wrote in Wednesday's editions that Baker was "mildly annoyed'' that he hadn't been offered a contract extension by the organization.

"I didn't tell him that,'' Baker said. "That's his opinion. I can't control what somebody writes.

"At this point, when you're losing, you can't be annoyed about nothing but losing. How do you expect to be offered a contract when the team just lost eight in a row? Honestly. I'm being as honest as I can be.''

Let the record show that Baker was laughing heartily when he said this. He is staying true to himself and not allowing himself to get mad or get caught up in controversial, media-generated issues.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/cubs/...t-cubnt11.html

[SoCal Pinstriper]

Of all the acute annoyances that make up the 2006 Pirates, none appears quite so immediately ominous as the conspicuous plummet of the club's All-Star left fielder.

Regardless of what vantage point you want to spin it from, the 25-point drop in his batting average since May 1, the 109-point plunge in less than a month (since April 12), or the chronic inability to pull the trigger on two-strike pitches, Bay's .252 average (and that's .182 with runners in scoring position) isn't the kind of thing the Pirates figured to be dropping better than $18 million on over the next five years.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06131/689259-150.stm

[SoCal Pinstriper]

Astros manager Phil Garner and coach Doug Mansolino aren't fans of the new seating color scheme at Dodger Stadium, where the pastel yellows in the first and second deck make it difficult for fielders and base coaches to see the ball.

After having bright orange in the second deck and bright yellow in the first deck for decades, Dodgers officials reverted back to the seat colors used for Dodger Stadium's inaugural 1962 season.

Game balls are rubbed with Mississippi mud to take off the slickness before they're used, so they end up a light shade of brown that can get lost because there isn't enough contrast with the background.

The issue could prove dangerous when the Astros play a noon game (Los Angeles time) today in the series finale.

"It's just real difficult to see," Mansolino said. "Even the Dodgers players say it. I was coaching at third, and I could hardly see the ball in the dusk. Once it gets dark, it gets a little better. I won't say it's great, but it's a little better.

http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/3855768.html

[backstop20]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2440983
May 11, 2006

Man denied bag says Angels discriminated
SANTA ANA, Calif. -- A man who was denied a red nylon tote bag during a Mother's Day promotion at an Angels baseball game has filed a sex and age discrimination lawsuit against the team.

The class action claim filed by Michael Cohn, a Los Angeles psychologist, alleges that thousands of males and fans under age 18 are entitled to $4,000 in damages each because they were treated unequally at last May's promotion. Women over 18 received the gifts.

Angel officials said Cohn was the only person who complained about the giveaway and that the team is proud of its promotions.

[backstop20]

http://www.deadspin.com/sports/espn/...bed-173122.php
may 11, 2006
Rick Sutcliffe ... Bombed!
There's an audio link in there.

http://www.enidnews.com/feeds/apcont...es_apstoryview
Rick Sutcliffe, a Cy Young award winner and ESPN baseball analyst, gave a rambling, slurred interview during the local television broadcast of the Brewers-Padres game Wednesday night.

[SoCal Pinstriper]

http://www.deadspin.com/sports/espn/...bed-173122.php
may 11, 2006
Rick Sutcliffe ... Bombed!
There's an audio link in there.

http://www.enidnews.com/feeds/apcont...es_apstoryview
Rick Sutcliffe, a Cy Young award winner and ESPN baseball analyst, gave a rambling, slurred interview during the local television broadcast of the Brewers-Padres game Wednesday night.

Two excellent additions to this thread, backstop20.

[Panamaniac42]

nevermind!

[Jersey Yankee]

Focus on Sport/Getty Images
In 1986, Barry Bonds hit his first
major league home run, against
Craig McMurtry of the Atlanta Braves.
Bonds had 16 homers that season.

Hundreds of Homers Later, a Pitcher Remembers No. 1

ffice:smarttags" />lace>SAN FRANCISCOlace>, May 12 — A few pristine baseballs have arrived in Craig McMurtry's mailbox in lace>Troy, Tex.lace>, with specific requests for him. The fans want McMurtry's autograph, but, in a savvy twist, the collectors also ask him to write that he allowed Barry Bonds's first major league home run.fficeffice" />>>
> >
So McMurtry, 20 years removed from throwing Bonds what he called a "nasty" fastball that turned into Bonds's first of 713-and-counting homers, obliges. He signs his name, he writes "Barry Bonds's first home run" without shame, and he mails the balls back.>>
>>

"I'm out of the game and all that stuff so it's not a big deal," McMurtry said. "If I was still playing, I might take it differently.">>
> >
Up until about two years ago, McMurtry said, he did not even realize he had surrendered the first homer to Bonds, who is now one away from tying Babe Ruth for second on the career list behind Hank Aaron. McMurtry discovered it when television sports shows played highlights of Bonds's landmark homers.

[Bob Saccomano]

I would think that it's kind of rude to ask a pitcher to write that he gave up Barry Bonds' first homer instead of asking him for an autograph reflecting his own accomplishments.

[buckyjacobson]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-...adlines-sports

[Bob Saccomano]

I've heard the expression, a bag of balls, but.....

http://www.latimes.com/sports/custom...rts-morning_br

I think news of a Twins firesale is a little overblown. The Twins have been doing well in their series against the White Sox, and are now ahead of Cleveland in the AL Central standings. They might not want to part with their OF just yet.

[Cuban Connection]

Carlos Silva had more wins than walks last season.
This season he has more HR given up than strikeouts.

[SoCal Pinstriper]

An allegedly inebriated fan in right field threw a ball that barely missed hitting Jacque Jones before the ninth inning Tuesday, raising some red flags about security problems in the bleachers.

Jones said the ball "came whizzing past my head," nearly hitting him in the face.

"I'm not going to let one person ruin my time here," Jones said. "I signed here for three years and I signed here to help the team win. I probably haven't played my best baseball, and I understand that.

"You can voice whatever opinions, but throwing stuff at me is not acceptable in any way, shape or form."

Jones was booed for another baserunning mishap, and manager Dusty Baker said Jones is trying too hard to succeed.

Jones respectfully disagreed.

"There's pressure here to win, and everybody knows it," he said. "I'm not afraid of [it]. If you can't play with pressure, you don't need to play."

A Cubs spokesman said the woman who threw the ball at Jones was detained by security but not arrested.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune....cubs-headlines

[SoCal Pinstriper]

The Pirates will face Cleveland today for the first time since June 2003, but it is not a sign the teams will meet regularly.

Despite annual pleas from Pirates owner Kevin McClatchy, Major League Baseball continues to designate the Indians and Reds as natural rivals. The only reason the Pirates and Indians meet this year is that each league's Central Divisions are matched up.

"It would be nice to play them every year. These two cities really don't enjoy each other, from what I've heard," Craig Wilson said. "It seems like the whole interleague thing was really set up for the big cities to have their two teams face each other, like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06139/691492-63.stm
Not sure why MLB wouldn't want to develope this. Pitt and Cleve have been the biggest of football rivals forever.

[Yankeeah]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06139/691492-63.stm
Not sure why MLB wouldn't want to develope this. Pitt and Cleve have been the biggest of football rivals forever.

It would make sense to have theam play, which is why MLB won't do it. Before you know it, the Astros and the Blue Jays will be facing each other as the "rival series"

[yanksphan]

I thought for sure someone would post:

"Bonds hits #714"

in this thread.

[DougiesChickenParm]

I wish they would stop saying that Bonds broke Ruth's record.

[OneRedSeat]

Peavy has fanned 16 through 7 on 114 pitches. Do they let him go for the record?

[JWHIII]

Peavy has fanned 16 through 7 on 114 pitches. Do they let him go for the record?

I hope so, that would be pretty cool.

[yanksphan]

Strange to see:

BAL 14 SEA 4
(W) Halama (L) Pineiro (S) Ray

14-4? Save?

1.1IP and a 9 run top of the ninth can do that.

[SoCal Pinstriper]

Brian Moehler, who will start today's series finale against the Cubs, wasn't surprised to learn he is one of three active pitchers with at least 175 starts to never strike out 10 in a game.

Only Jeff Suppan (278) and Mark Buehrle (181) have started more games without a double-digit strikeout performance than Moehler (176).

"Guys know Suppan and I are around the strike zone, and they're going to swing," said Moehler, who had a career-best nine strikeouts for the Tigers in a 1997 game against the Rangers. "We go over our scouting books, `Hey, this team strikes out a lot and swings at a lot of stuff.' I listen to that and I'm like, `Whatever, doesn't apply to me.'" ...

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/b...sports-marlins

[SoCal Pinstriper]

If all goes well during the rehab assignment outfielder Rocco Baldelli started Tuesday at Triple-A Durham, he will rejoin the Rays around June 10.

And if all stays according to the current plan, he will come back to play rightfield rather than center.

Baldelli planned to play rightfield in the minors to reduce stress on the strained left hamstring that has sidelined him since spring training, and Maddon said Tuesday that now will be the plan as well when he returns.

"As of right now, in my mind's eye, when he shows up he will be the rightfielder," Maddon said. "Is he going to be the rightfielder every day? I'm not sure of that yet. I don't know if he still is going to need that break. Is it two (games) on, one off? Three on, one off? I don't know. That may be based on his arm at that point. I'm really wide open about it."

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/05/24/Ra...k__Learn.shtml

[Cuban Connection]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/b...sports-marlins

They need to get their facts straight. Buehrle struck out 12 guys in that 1 hour 39 minute masterpiece last year against the M;s.

[AnibalTheCannibal]

Not about baseball, but a baseball player. This tells the story of Billy Koch, and his family's battle with Morgellons Disease, which is making me squemish to read about.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/9264350/detail.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellons_Disease

[SoCal Pinstriper]

They need to get their facts straight. Buehrle struck out 12 guys in that 1 hour 39 minute masterpiece last year against the M;s.

You're right. It sounded off to me when I posted it.

[Panamaniac42]

Bengie & co. give up 6 swipes.

SB -
J Lugo (8, 2nd base off J Towers/B Molina),

C Crawford 4 (17, 2nd base off J Towers/B Molina, 2nd base off J Speier/G Zaun, 2nd base off F Rosario/B Molina, 3rd base off S Schoeneweis/B Molina),

J Gathright (10, 2nd base off T Taubenheim/B Molina).

[swityak11]

Mets trade for the DFA'd corpse of Dave Williams

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2458254

Shades of Danny Graves. I'd imagine most Reds fans are happy to recieve anything more than a dirty bucket of practice balls for Williams.

[Cuban Connection]

I'd imagine most Reds fans are happy to recieve anything more than a dirty bucket of practice balls for Williams.

I don't know. They gave up a big time fan favorite in Sean Casey (who was in tears after being traded) for the guy. They're probably even more pissed off at the Casey trade now.

[swityak11]

I don't know. They gave up a big time fan favorite in Sean Casey (who was in tears after being traded) for the guy. They're probably even more pissed off at the Casey trade now.

Casey gets paid $8 million per to be an injured and fat version of Hal Morris. He was well liked but nowhere near worth paying when you're a team that needs to watch payroll.

Loyalty is great and all if you can afford it but in that case, I think it was addition by subtraction.